OK so no 1 Daughter has bought a house and moved out ( YEE HA ) it has a camray external boiler ( oil fired) and I was wondering how much oil it would burn per day ( during winter months )based on say 2 hrs in the morning ( water and heating) and say 5 hrs in the evening ( heating and water ).
Vague figures I know but just a ball park figure would be a good starting point for working out a required budget .
Discuss Please.

We have oil fired hot water/heating, It currently drinks about 4L/day, with about an hour of heating (30 mins twice a day) Saying that, our boiler, really, really needs servicing, so I'd take those numbers with a pinch of salt.

I reckon for this place (4 bed, oldish, double glazed, stone walls) it'd work out about £1000-1200 a year for oil. In reality, we do without hot water from February to late October, just because it's too frigging expensive otherwise.

That and depending on the area, you're at a fair risk of your oil getting nicked, so getting big deliveries often isn't wise, lockable caps and concealment are essential.

All told it's horribly expensive, massively inefficient and thoroughly inconvenient. (we have to travel ~15 miles to get oil, and if you run out when snowed in, you're onto coal and logs)

Realistically though, if at all possible I'd advise swapping to leccy heating if possible, it's much, much less of a pain in the arse when weather gets interesting.

Depends on the age and efficiency of the boiler, when it was last serviced, the capacity of your hot water cylinder, how many radiators it feeds, how well insulated the house is, how high she turns up the thermostat and the price of oil. (Oil prices go up in the winter.)
If the boiler is ten years old, but has been regularly serviced, it should be relatively efficient.
Older than that, it could be drinking fuel.

Get it serviced by a reputable company (£70).

If the house has single glazing, solid walls (no cavity) and poor roof insulation, she could set fire to a lot of money.
There are several government schemes available for her to get free or part funded loft insulation.

Recommend that she invests in a new winter duvet, some fleeces, nice thick dressing gown and some furry slippers.
Soup also very warming.

A good oil fired boiler should keep you warm for £800 to £1200 a year, depending on all the variables above.

Camray boiler (condensing I think as it has a water tank on board for hot water) has been serviced.
Semi detached with plenty loft insulation 2 bedrooms and posted and plasterboard walls ( no insulation )

If its a combination boiler, it could prove cheaper - because it heats water on demand rather than heating a big tank regardless of use.
Semi-detatched should cost less too, expecailly if the residents of the property attached like to turn up their thermostat.
Versus electric or gas, oil fired can be cheaper if the boiler is efficient and well serviced; especially if electric and gas prices are on the rise.
Best to fill up her tank in the summer (cheapest prices).
Regarding oil theft and security, it does pay to have a padlock on the tank, although theft tends to occur more in rural areas.
If she keeps the thermostat at 19 degrees and has the heating on for one hour in the morning and three in the evening, she may get away with £800 a year.

cheers imagineer

We have a combi oil boiler, paid well over £2k for it 3 years ago. We have the heating on in the morning for 2 or 3 hours, then about 4 in the evening, between about now and April. I think we use about £1200 a year (approx 2000 litres), obviously using most of it in the winter months. When the heating is off (6-7 months), i reckon we only use 700 litres of oil, the rest is burnt up during the cold period. Its always cheaper to buy oil in the summer months, they ramp it up towards the end of the year and keep it higher through the winter, so if you can plan buy it early, but again depends if you live in an area where you arent worried about it being nicked. Prices fluctuate masssively too, so again worth keeping an eye on prices and buy when the going is good. Buying 1000-1500 litres of oil hurts as it one big layout, but the rate is cheaper than buying 500 (usual minimum amount) at a time. Its always worth ringing around different suppliers as the prices differ slightly. We had our electric immersion removed when we had the boiler fitted, something i regret, as you have no way of producing hot water if out of oil or the boiler is playing up (something oil boilers do reguarly!), and means we have to use oil in the summer.

Oil heating is very expensive, but is still cheaper (at the moment) than tanked gas. If you live somewhere without piped gas you have no real choice unless you go all electric.

It's worth using sites like www.boilerjuice.com too.

We go through a similar amount as most above but I do try and buy with the neighbours at the same time using BoilerJuice. It's not a massive saving, but I can see at least a saving of a few quid everytime - the more people in your area that order the cheaper it becomes - well money off your next top up anyway.

If you take the slowest delivery option it can be a little frustrating, but again makes a big saving.

Prices seem high today - up 4p a litre since I last ordered!

I have a Worcester condensing boiler fitted in what used to be the brick sh... , sorry, out house.

Fitted 4 years ago it runs the hot water tank 6-7am and 6-7pm, and 9 rads 5-10pm. At the weekend
we tend to press the over ride during the day. Room thermostat set at 22deg.

I've tagged the site glass this morning and will update when I have some figures.
I'd quite like to know myself.

The house is s/d and my neighbour (that doesn't join me) fitted an outside combi about the same time.
Give or take the odd litre we use about the same, or though his is south facing and mine faces north.

The downside of outside boilers is that in winter the frost stat cuts in.
Many's the time at 3 in the morning I hear the rads creak as they warm up.

Cheers,
Paul G


Edit to add:-

In 24 hrs it's used 4.5 litres as near as I can measure.
That would work out to just under £20 a week.

Obviously this will be more in mid winter, and far less in summer when it just supplies the hot water.

I will check in 6 days time to get a more accurate weekly figure.

[Edited on 1/11/12 by 907]

We have a 3 bed detached bungalow, 10 rads, ch &hw on daily 5..00-7.00AM, ch only 4.00 -9.00PM and use about 2000L PA.

quote:

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Originally posted by omega 24 v6
Camray boiler (condensing I think as it has a water tank on board for hot water) has been serviced.
Semi detached with plenty loft insulation 2 bedrooms and posted and plasterboard walls ( no insulation )

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quote:

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Originally posted by 907
Room thermostat set at 22deg.

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quote:

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Originally posted by James

quote:

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Originally posted by 907
Room thermostat set at 22deg.

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You have a Pina Colada with that?

Positively tropical!

Am feeling very moral (tight? ) that ours won't go on for another month and goes no higher than 18°!

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Useful thread. I've just moved to a house with oil. Cheers.

quote:

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Originally posted by James

quote:

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Originally posted by 907
Room thermostat set at 22deg.

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You have a Pina Colada with that?

Positively tropical!

Am feeling very moral (tight? ) that ours won't go on for another month and goes no higher than 18°!

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A word of warning about boilerjuice. I recently discovered it was operated by a conglomerate of oil suppliers, the word cartel springs to mind. Find an independent oil suppler and you may well find they will easily beat the best deal offered on boilerjuice, it may only be by 1 or 2ppl but when our buying 2.5Kl per year it makes a difference.

The old adage shop around

Regards

Geoff